


Nothing Personal

by MisfitWriter



Series: BadThingsHappenBingo [2]
Category: Six (TV 2017)
Genre: Caulder whump, Gen, badthingshappenbingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 13:36:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15171839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MisfitWriter/pseuds/MisfitWriter
Summary: When the team gets a lucky break on the Prince, Bear has an uncertain heaviness in the pit of his stomach from the jump.  Maybe next time he'll trust his instincts.





	Nothing Personal

Second snippet for the #badthingshappenbingo.  Also in the Six fandom, but unrelated to the last one.  As you will probably learn with this challenge, I tend to focus on whumping my favorite character in each fandom, in the case of Six being Caulder.  If there’s something else you want to see, let me know and I will see what I can do ;)

 

**Fandom:** Six (History Channel)

**Characters:** Alex Caulder, Dharma Caulder, Joe “Bear” Graves, Trevor Wozniak, Ricky “Buddha” Ortiz, Robert Chase, Armin “Fishbait” Kahn

**Prompt:** Betrayal

\---

Joe “Bear” Graves felt uneasy about the situation from the moment they stepped foot out of the Blackhawks in the backwoods of Azerbaijan.  His gut kept screaming at him to get his men back into the air and on their way back home, but orders were orders. The President himself had ordered them to end this fiasco with the Prince, once and for all, and finally they seemed to have a break in the intel.  

With a quick glance around at the rest of his team, the leader found some semblance of confidence.  He was surrounded by the best warriors in the world, and the unit’s cohesion seemed to be settling back down after Alex’s return and the brief bout of tension between him and Wozniak.  They were on their way to capture - or kill - the Prince, and then maybe they could end the threats to their families for a while. 

“Buddha, Chase, Fishbait, take left.  Wozniak, Caulder, with me. We’re about a klik from the coordinates from the intel...fan out as we get closer.”

“Why don’t I take point on coms?” Trevor questioned as the others immediately fell into step to follow Bear’s order.  The Team Leader narrowed his eyes, and a quick glance at Caulder let him know he wasn’t the only one smelling something off.  

“We don’t need point on coms.  I gave you an order, so let’s go.”  He waited for the newest team member to pass, met his second’s eyes behind the man’s back, and took a steadying breath.  That instinct to turn and run was ramping up, and the fact that one of his men was adding to that discontent made everything worse.  

“Let’s get this over with, Senior Chief,” Alex muttered, the use of his rank indicative of how suspicious of the situation his second was.  Bear nodded silently, bringing up the rear as the three began moving again. Caulder’s gaze shifted repeatedly between their surroundings and Trevor, and Bear couldn’t blame the lack of trust.  Even without this bizarre behavior, the man’s utter lack of remorse for the part he played in Caulder’s wrist injury had been a point of contention between most of the team.

They moved in silence for several minutes, all of them falling back on their extensive training to prevent any extra noise.  Bear was scanning the area around them when Alex grunted abruptly in front of him. Graves snapped his attention back to Alex and Trevor, to see his second deflecting was must have been a second attack from one of their own and catching himself against a tree.  The flash of metal drew Bear’s attention to the knife in Trevor’s hand as it was pushed back from Caulder’s face. “What the  _ fuck,  _ Wozniak?!”  The team leader leapt into action, but not before a barely-restrained yelp of pain escaped Alex.

“Sorry, Caulder, it’s nothing personal.  It’s business...I wasn’t supposed to be here.”  Alex growled through clenched teeth at the traitor pressing his blade into the flesh of his left shoulder.  Bear itched to whip out his gun and end the son of a bitch, but he knew it would bring the hell of whatever ambush Wozniak had set up on them as well.  Instead, Bear threw himself at them, tackling Trevor away from his Second and drawing his own knife. Alex groaned as the weapon embedded in his arm was jarred, and Bear watched through his peripheral when he yanked it free.

Any fight that Wozniak was going to give ended the instant the blade pressed against his throat.  “What the fuck did you do, traitor?”

“These Boko Haram psychos pay a hell of a lot better than our ass backwards government, so I cut them a deal.  Simple as that. Like I said, nothing personal.”

“Nothing  _ personal _ ?!” Alex hissed, clutching his wounded arm, standing behind Bear.  “You sold out our entire  _ team _ ...for a fucking  _ payday?! _ ”  Without any further hesitation, the Chief engaged his coms.  “Buddha, Fish, Chase...turn around. Get back to the exfil  _ now _ , it’s a trap.”

“Copy,” Buddha replied with a short, clipped voice.  Bear returned his focus to the man beneath him, silently relieved that Caulder’s injury wasn’t severe enough to hinder his ability to manage the disastrous situation.  The subtle winces of pain, though, were enough to further stoke his fury.

“Give me one reason I shouldn’t end you right now?” Bear growled, returning his full focus to Trevor.  The blonde glanced between Caulder and Bear, and finally fear seemed to register in the man’s eyes.

“L-look, Bear-”

“ _ Senior Chief Graves _ , asshole.”  He pressed the knife deeper into Trevor’s neck.  “You aren’t a member of this team, you are a fucking  _ disgrace _ to the uniform you wear, and your greed threatened my men.”  Blood seeped down pale skin. 

“ _ Bear _ ,” Caulder breathed, hand settling firmly onto his leader’s shoulder.  “This is too easy for him. Let him find out what happens to traitors that sell out their teams to terrorists.”  The hand lifted for a moment as his Second’s words sunk in, and a set of cuffs appeared in his vision a beat later.  

“B-but...I-”

“If you have any sense of self-preservation, you will cooperate and shut your damn mouth.  You should be thanking  _ Chief Caulder _ with every breath you have…” Bear took the cuffs and passed his knife to Alex as he spoke, rising just enough to manhandle Trevor onto his stomach.  Mentally, he willed the man to resist, to give him  _ any excuse _ to give in to his protective rage.  “First your negligence results in his getting shot and put out of commission for three months...and then, you sorry son of a bitch...then you actually have the balls to try to  _ kill  _ him?! He should want you dead right now.”  Bear glanced over his shoulder to take in the sight of his wounded comrade, and understood Caulder’s intent behind keeping him alive.  “Although I’m not sure I would prefer to keep breathing, knowing the alternative. Now get up.”

Refusing to give Wozniak the satisfaction of seeing Alex weakened, Bear hauled the traitor to his feet and shoved him back towards their pickup site.  A questioning look to Alex was met with silent reassurance, but the lines of pain in his face were enough. 

His instincts had warned him that something was wrong.  Trevor’s behavior had just been the icing on the cake...and yet he did nothing to prevent the attack and injury of one of his best friends, his  _ brother _ .  He was supposed to keep them safe, and he’d just let this betrayal happen.

“Bear?” Buddha questioned, drawing the leader from his thoughts.  Graves looked up to see the rest of their team watching him from the Blackhawks, shock and confusion in their eyes as they took in Trevor’s state, transitioning to anger as they took in Alex behind them.  “Anyone wanna fill us in on what the hell is going on?”

Bear turned to the flight mechanic approaching them, and passed Trevor off to him.  “Keep him secure, trust me you don’t want any of our team on the same chopper. If he manages to get loose somehow, feel free to toss him out.”

“Aye, Senior Chief,” the man responded curtly before leading the man away.  As soon as he was out of sight, Bear turned to Alex, who had already been surrounded by their team and the flight medic inside the chopper.

“Okay, Caulder, be straight with me, how bad?”

The SEAL in question grimaced as the medic got to work.  “Hurts like a mofo, but it doesn’t feel like it got anything as bad as last time.”  

“Anyone gonna fill us in anytime soon?” Chase asked.  Bear couldn’t tear his eyes from the blood staining Caulder’s uniform, just over his flag patch.

“It was a trap.  Wozniak made a deal with Boko Haram, sold us out...it was supposed to be an ambush.  He went after Caulder to try to avoid the attack.” 

“And the asshole is still breathing?!” Fishbait raged, making a move towards the other helicopter. Bear pressed a hand against his chest to stop him.  

“Easy, boys,” Bear soothed.

“We all know what waits for him is a hell of a lot worse than taking him out right now,” Alex pointed out with a tight voice.  Chase nodded.

“We’re ready to move,” the medic stated, spurring the team to get settled into the chopper.  

\--

“Can we seriously stop meeting like this?” 

Alex looked up at the voice of his daughter, whose face was pale and eyes worried.  He patted the bed beside him, giving her an encouraging smile. She watched the nurse finishing up his stitches before settling down close enough that their shoulders were touching.  “I’m fine, kiddo. This isn’t as bad as last time, I promise. No long term damage, just gotta wait to heal up.”

“But I saw on the news...about the asshole that turned on his team.  He’s the one who did this, isn’t he? The new guy?” Dharma whispered, suddenly looking younger than he’d ever seen her.  Alex wrapped his good arm around her shoulders and tugged her close.

“My job deals with a  _ lot _ of assholes...thankfully most of the time they aren’t on this side of things.  But sometimes, they  _ are _ .  I can’t promise that something like this will never happen again, but I can guarantee you that anyone else that comes in to our team will be under heavy scrutiny for a while.  I trust the team with my life...I think Bear’s fighting to keep them from bringing in a newcomer for a while once I’m back with them.”

“I’m sorry, Chief Caulder, but I just have to ask a few quick questions, and then should be able to let you get on your way,” the nurse interrupted apologetically.

“Okay.  This is my daughter, she will be taking me home, if that’s one of the questions.”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, that was question number one.  Question number two...it says here that you want no opioid pain medication, do you have a preference otherwise?”

Dharma squeezed Alex’s hand at the mention of his unhealthy relationship with opiates.  “Ibuprofen 800’s would be great, if that’s okay?” The nurse nodded with a sympathetic smile, and excused herself to get his discharge paperwork together.  

“See?  I’m going to be just fine, Dhar.  I’ve got you to come back to now, I  _ can’t _ let anyone take me out, American or otherwise, can I?”


End file.
